Good news from the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population.

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Israeli Programmable DNA Computer could diagnose and treat cancer. Israeli scientists have created a miniature medical computer out of DNA that can detect cancer genes in a test tube and respond by releasing a drug. Proving what had been only a concept, the feat offers a vision of how medicine might look in the future. A few years ago, Ehud Shapiro and his colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, developed a molecular computer out of DNA. It was capable of performing simple computations. In this biological nanocomputer, strands of DNA serve as software that control the activity of enzymes. The tiny device is listed in the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest biological computing device. Trillions of these DNA-based computers could fit into a single drop of water. In their latest advance, the researchers programmed their computer for two types of cancer, prostate cancer and a form of lung cancer. For each cancer, the team targeted four genes that become either overactive or underactive in people with the disease.

Israeli Tech Breakthrough To Increase Speed Of Computers 10-fold. Israeli researchers at Intel have achieved a breakthrough in chip development that will enable computers to operate at 10 times the current speed. In a development that promises to change the world of computing and telecommunications within five to 10 years, the electro-optic chips developed during the past year and a half at Intel's Jerusalem facility will replace the standard electronic chips used for communications between computer components. This will allow this communication to be conducted at the speed of light - 10 times the current speed. Intel, the world's largest chip maker, has been operating in Israel since 1974, and has 5,200 employees at its four main development centers in Jerusalem, Haifa, Kiryat Gat and Petah Tikva. According to a report in Ha'aretz, the Israeli team for the first time succeeded in developing electro-optical chipsets based on silicon wafers capable of converting electronic signals to optic signals within the chip. They have the potential to be mass-produced at the same cost as standard electronic chips.

Intel to shift all chips to Israeli design. By 2006, Intel plans to shift its desktop processor architecture away from the power-hungry design that fuels the existing Pentium 4 processor to a more power-efficient design which builds on the success of the Pentium M chip. The Banias architecture designed by Intel researchers in Israel will become the future platform for Intel's desktop and mobile processors as the company shifts to dualcore designs, sources said. The Israeli design team which developed the Pentium M took power consumption into account with every design decision, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst with Insight 64.h

Israeli Researchers: Immune System May Protect Against Cognitive Disorders. Israeli researchers have demonstrated a link between immune system functioning and cognitive impairment, at least in mice.

Israeli experts to train Ethiopians on cotton production. To conduct training of trainers on Cotton Crop Production and Management at Arbaminch Water Technologies Institute Israeli experts have arrived in Ethiopia. the two-week program, coordinated by the Embassy of Israel in Addis Ababa and financially supported by MASHAV, Israeli Center for International Cooperation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, was officially launched last week. The program is hoped to assist the trainees to strengthen their knowledge of providing agricultural extension services to a large number of farmers engaged in producing cotton products.

Israeli venture capital investment rises 31. In the first quarter of 2004, 111 Israeli high-tech companies raised $323m from venture investors, a 31 per cent increase. Capital raised in Q1 was the highest in eight quarters.

Israeli wins Euro basketball championship!!! Host Israel beat Italy 118-74 to win the Euroleague basketball championship. Israel won by a best-ever margin in the final after a record 55-point first half for its fourth title.

Israeli-U.S. Laser Downs Long-Range Missile in Test. A laser beam under joint Israeli-U.S. development destroyed a long-range rocket for the first time in a test in the skies over the American Southwest, Israel's Defense Ministry said on Friday. Israel has sought an effective defense against ballistic missiles since 1991 when Iraq launched Scuds into the Jewish state during the first Gulf War. It has since developed the Arrow anti-ballistic missile with U.S. funding. "This is a significant step forward," a ministry spokesman said of the test on May 4 of the "Nautilus" Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) held at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Facts about the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population.


  • Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
  • Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.
  • In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews at risk in Ethiopia to safety in Israel.
  • When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times.
  • When the U. S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day - and saved three victims from the rubble.
  • Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship - and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.
  • Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity.
  • Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free."
  • Israel has the world's second highest per capita of new books.
  • Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert.
  • Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.
  • Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this category as well.
  • Israel has the highest per capita ratio of scientific publications in the world by a large margin, as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.
  • In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number of startup companies than any other country in the world, except the US (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech).
  • Israel is ranked #2 in the world for VC funds right behind the US.
  • Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.
  • Outside the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies
  • Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The per capita income in 2000 is over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK.
  • With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world (apart from the Silicon Valley).
  • With an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16s, Israel has the largest fleet of the aircraft outside of the US.
  • Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.
  • The cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola-Israel. Motorola built its largest development center worldwide in Israel.
  • Windows NT software was developed by Microsoft-Israel.
  • The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.
  • Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.
  • AOL's instant message program was designed by an Israeli software company.
  • Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel
  • The city of Beer Sheva in Israel has the highest percentage in the world of Chess Grand Masters per capita – one for every 22,875 residents.
  • On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech start-ups
  • Israel has the largest raptor migration in the world, with hundreds of thousands of African birds of prey crossing as they fan out into Asia.
  • Twenty-four percent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees -- ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland -- and 12 percent hold advanced degrees.